survtech

In our camera tests over the years, we've found little apparent difference between "standard-chip" CCTV cameras with rated resolutions of 470-lines, 500-lines, 540-lines, 600(+) lines, and even cameras that use the Effio 960H chip. Perceived resolution remains approximately the same. We assumed that something else in our chain was the limiting factor: distribution amps? signal transport (coax and/or baluns)? our matrix? monitors? something else? We had resigned ourselves to the perceived limitations of our system until a little-unknown manufacturer brought us a demo of a new camera. The inMotion in11S3N2D uses a ⅓” Sony SuperHAD II CCD - considered to be a lower-grade sensor than the Effio. Still, we noticed a substantial improvement in both resolution and the ability to distinguish color differences. Are they the equivalent of megapixel? Hardly. Still, the difference to any other analog camera are substantial.

D1 will make a huge difference in resolution (sharpness) if your cameras are higher lines but less if you have "330-line" cameras. A lot also depends on your compression settings. Even running 4CIF/D1 resolution on the DVR, the picture will look bad if you run very low bitrates. NOTE: D1 and 4CIF are quite close, D1 being 720x480, while 4CIF is 640x480. That compares to CIF, which is 320x240. Those are NTSC resolutions. PAL is somewhat different.

Actually, CATx (CAT3, CAT5, CAT6, etc.) cables are 100Ω impedance.

There's cameras, and then there's cameras. It depends on the weight. We use simple drywall anchors for light plastic mini-dome cameras and have never had a problem except for the rare time a water leak causes the tile to turn to mush. For heavier cameras, we still use either toggle anchors or machine screws with fender washers. Be careful with plywood. In some cases, you will have to use fire retardant plywood or risk the wrath of building inspectors. For heavier cameras like vandal domes and PTZs, a safety chain is highly recommended.

Sorry guys. I disabled everything I could and took a timeout when I was pissed at Rory. After he finally disappeared (praise the lord), I forgot to re-enable PMs, etc. Now re-enabled. Anyway, I live in the San Diego area - a long way from San Jose, and my specialty is casino surveillance, so I can't help you.

Sorry Chris, no idea. Maybe someone else here can help you. My specialty is casino surveillance.

Good choice for most cameras but not for heavy outside pendant-mounted cameras. For them, try this: E-Z Ancor 2-Pack Toggle-Lock Self-Drilling Drywall Anchors For very light plastic indoor mini-domes, even standard drywall anchors will hold just fine, but the ones Numb-nuts pointed to have the advantage of not requiring a pre-drilled hole. Just use a power screwdriver and it drills the hole itself (except if you hit a stud, nail, electrical wire or pipe).

No answer, but you're correct. If you can control pan and tilt, you should be able to control zoom.

WOW, such animosity! Here's my 2¢: With over 600 cameras installed on our site using 2-wire UTP (plus at least 500 using coax), I can say you both are right. Failure rates for UTP systems are higher than for coax, although both methods have very low rates of failure. For coax, a large percentage of the failures are on mini-coax, where connector crimps are weaker, and thus more problematic. RG59 connections are the most reliable. For UTP, the most common problem is wires not making good contact with the balun. We have used three types of baluns: IDC-type, where the wires are pushed into a v-shaped metal piece, similar to a punchdown; screw-type, where the wires are wrapped around a screw terminal, which is tightened down on the wire and connector block-type, where the wire is inserted in a hole and a screw is tightened down on it. Each type can have issues: * IDC-type - the IDC can fail to make good contact with a wire. Its contact can occasionally loosen over time. More often, the IDC actually cuts through the wire, either during the "punchdown" process (when the wire is first pushed into the V) or over time if the wire is moved. * Screw-type - tightening the screw enough that the wire doesn't easily pull out can also weaken the wire. Occasionally, the screws themselves loosen up over time, causing intermittent connections. * Connector block-type - In many respects, the weakest of the three. Often, the wire easily pulls out of the block. "Doubling" the wire by folding it over on itself before inserting it can help alleviate this. We have tried, but not deployed RJ45-type because the connectors can be a pain to install properly and we are concerned that the environment above our ceilings will cause problems with the M-F RJ45 connections. With all UTP systems, the installer has to be aware of the fragility of UTP wires. They break easily, especially after stripping with any metal tool (why I use my fingernails) and can't tolerate much bending back and forth. With careful installation practices, they are quite reliable. One huge advantage for large-scale applications is cable pulling. 25-pair or 50-pair trunk cables are far easier to pull and take up far less space than 25 or 50 lengths of coax.

We use ToteVision LCD-565 5.6" battery operated monitors for field use and two-way radio for fine adjustments.

gJ_hfXhTpIo Great, if you want to record your toy train.

If you don't attach anything to the looping output, the DVR probably terminates each input with 75 ohms. Some will have a switch that is opened when you attach a cable to the looping output while others have termination set in the software. In any case, once you attach a cable to the looping out, you should probably terminate the other end. Check the DVR's instructions to be sure.

The only options are converting the analog video to IP via an encoder (video server) with something like the Veracity HIGHWIRE ethernet-over-coax system: Four-port Ethernet over Coax Use a four port unit at the camera end and a single port unit at the DVR end. If you need to convert the IP signal back to analog, you would also need suitable decoder(s). The other option would be FM Systems' Two Channel Video Diplexer., You would need both a transmitter and a receiver, which would cost $770 - pretty substantial! http://www.fmsystems-inc.com/cw/Details.cfm?ProdID=95&category=4

Yes, you can plug the camera directly into the scope's input but to determine the camera's output levels, you must use proper termination (75 ohms), as stated by ak357. The easiest way to do that is with a "T" connector and a 75 ohm terminator. See below. I usually make my own terminators using a 1/4 watt 75 ohm resistor soldered to a connector. What I do is form loops out of the resistor's leads and solder the ends to a solder-type BNC connector.That way, I can attach the scope's clip lead to the loops but it's just as easy to use the "T". If you adjust the display on the scope at its presets for H and V sync (most scopes have them), and your input attenuator to .2V per division, the signal should be 5 divisions from its highest to its lowest points - .1V per division should yield full CRT height on most scopes (that typically have a total of 10 vertical divisions). The image would look like this: Shows Two Horizontal Lines Shows Three Vertical Frames Things to look for: * The Sync signal (the square part that is the lowest point) should be relatively flat on the bottom and should be approximately 0.4V down from the bottom of the video signal. Losses caused by cable resistance will be more apparent in a "rounding" of the Vertical Sync signal when observing the vertical (V) frame signal. This rounding reveals low frequency cable losses typical of long runs or improper cable type (like "clad"). * The Color Burst signal (not normally there on black and white signals) should also be relatively square and be around 0.4V p-p. The color burst waveform can reveal a lot about a camera and the transport medium. It should be as close to "square" as possible. Heavy rounding on either side can be a symptom of high frequency signal loss in the cable (make certain it is loss-related by also "scoping" the camera with a short cable - some cameras don't put out perfectly square burst signals). * The Active Video signal. Not a lot revealed here, especially on a standard oscilloscope. Look for a maximum peak of around 1V from the top of the video to the bottom of the sync. There may actually be some normal variation in this total level. Some manufacturers like to "push" a bit hotter signal and most DVR,s etc. can handle up to at least 1.5V p-p. There's a pretty good basic explanation of the video signals HERE

Yeah dustmop, we're just starting the process of evaluating systems to replace our aging Honeywell Enterprise purchased in 2003. One option we have been assessing is retaining the Pelco 9780 for Spectra PTZ control and monitoring while using a virtual matrix for the fixed cameras. Do you have totally independent monitor/control systems for the two or what? I envision interfacing between the Pelco CC1's or joysticks and the VMS so that if we call say, Camera #501 (fixed) to Monitor 12, it only appears there while if you call Camera #120 (PTZ) to Monitor 12, it appears on Monitor 12 but also appears on a single analog "PTZ Monitor" on the console in front of the operator for zero latency control purposes. Since an operator can't control more than one PTZ at a time, that would work just fine. I believe someone (manufacturer or integrator) should be able to write an app for that.

No, you can't. In fact, if you try, you'll likely blow the supply. For one thing, 12V power supplies are DC, while 24V power supplies are AC. It's a lot easier (and safer) to use a 24VAC power supply with converters to change the voltage to 12VDC:

Actually in my line of work, zero latency would be a plus. However, as I stated above, there's no advantage to a technology that not only requires we replace much, if not all, of our infrastructure, is not capable of seamless integration with the rest of our system. No matrix switches or recorders capable of handling >1000 cameras. No ability to display on tens of monitors, etc.

We can't use either one so I've never even tested them. I've had a couple of vendors approach me (one for HD-SDI and one for HDcctv), but my first question to any vendor is can they demonstrate the product on our system. For our purposes, neither system is ready for casino use: it won't work with our cable infrastructure (70% UTP single-pair w/baluns - 30% coax with many runs far longer than 100m), it won't work with either our matrix or our NVR and it won't display on our monitors. In essence, what's the point?

Thanks. I'll remember that next time I'm installing digital signage (which is never), but not when installing CCTV cameras...

Probably no danger. Not certain but my guess would be 0.1µf ceramic at maybe 500-1000v. That value is very common for bypass caps.

Also Marshall Electronics MINIATURE LENSES FOR CCD/CMOS CAMERAS

Knock off the chit chat. Geez!

Horizon, it's two different things. The board pictured is in the back box. There isn't much circuitry on it because it doesn't do much - mostly just interfaces between the dome drive and the I/O (power, video and control). Back box components rarely fail and usually when they do (like pictured), it's due to a power surge like lightning. Spectra III Dome drives are a different beast. Mostly the power supplies fail. I'm not sure why but my suspicion is that the cooling fan fails and the components overheat. Pelco redesigned the power supply board so they were obviously aware of some problem. The back box PCB is $125 at Time Lapse Supply. The DD53KIT is around $170. The same goes for Spectra II's. Although the dome drive cooling fan is located in the back box, vs. inside the dome drive on Spectra III's, I've found that the Spectra II fans typically only last 2-3 years. If they fail, especially in hot climates, parts fry inside the dome drive.

Just don't try to put a Spectra II in a Spectra III or Spectra IV back box (or vice versa). Spectra II's had the electronics cooling fan in the back box. Spectra III's originally had the cooling fan in the dome drive but the DD53KIT actually eliminates the fan (passive cooling). Spectra IV's have no fan, only passive cooling. Either way, the holes for air circulation don't line up between II's and III/IV's.

Ceramic capacitors are one of the most reliable and long-lived electronic components.